Eiji Aonuma Advises Adventurers to Hoard Rupees in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

One of the oddities of the Zelda franchise is its currency system — Link runs into strangers homes to loot their chests and smash their pots for money, and he can even accumulate wealth when chopping up grass in the wilds. We've tried cutting grass ourselves in the hopes that money will simply appear where the overgrowth once was, but it's a video game quirk sadly lacking in real life.

In any case, accumulating rupees — and larger purses in which to carry them — has been an important part of the franchise. Picking up ammo, expansions and useful tools from shops is a key part of the overall adventure, yet producer Eiji Aonuma has spoken to Official Nintendo Magazine and suggested that the importance of collecting money is even greater than normal in upcoming 3DS release The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.

Collecting rupees, the currency of the Zelda world, will be very important in this game. You might think that was the case with all the past games too, but I must say that this time it will be more important than ever and you will need to collect a great deal of them.

...Shops in the past Zelda games sold things that would run out once you use them like arrows and bombs, items that needed replenishing. They have never sold an item that doesn't go away after each use like the boomerang or the hookshot.

It seems that some key items may no longer be picked up by defeating certain bosses or navigating to key points in dungeons, but may actually simply be items for sale in stores. Or perhaps, with the Nabbit-esque character in the store screenshot above, items will be stolen from you and you'll have to retrieve them with cold, hard rupees. We'll have to wait and see.

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" They have never sold an item that doesn't go away after each use like the boomerang or the hookshot."

Doesn't Aonuma know his own games? I'm sure the point he means is that this game focuses heavily on acquiring new tools with hard earned rupees, but past Zelda games have often featured important items that must be bought.

Instead of buying things that arguably provide support (Shields, Rings, Tunics), let's look at inventory necessary for game progression.Link's Awakening needed you to buy the Shovel and the Bow, both necessary for game completion. The original NES title had things like the meat, needed to get past a grumbling hungry monster. In Majora's Mask you had to actually buy the bomb bag as opposed to simply finding one.In Twilight Princess, you need to buy the slingshot in ordon village.In Skyward Sword you buy the bug net from beedle's shop, though I cannot recall if the item is actually necessary as such unless you want upgrade materials.

I really hope it's not like New Super Mario Bros 2 in where currency was just flying around everywhere and you had to have some ridiculous amount of it to do anything with it. Personally, with Zelda, I'd perfer to get a rupee here and a maybe a big rupee there for doing something really cool, and being able to buy items that aren't 5,000 rupees a piece. I feel like the DS games kind of did that, and for some reason, it just doesn't sit as well with me. Not sure why really.

It has a reason why chest containing only rupees are one of th emost disappointing finds in Zelda games Why buy bombs and arrows if you can find them in vases, bushes and get them as random drops ? The only thing worth buying are items that you actually need, like the shovel, the bow (in awakening) and so forth.And even then its a one time purchase. Most of the time, you run around with a rupee wallet decked out with 999 rupees and not a single use for it other than the occasional minigame here and there, And even they dont drain your wallet quicker than you find rupees.To make the currency system worthwhile, zelda games need a lot more RPG elements. Stuff like armor pieces, item upgrades like in SW etc. But adding too much of that will turn the complete formula upside down.

When I first read this, I thought of NSMB2 and how the focus was actually on getting the coins. Doubt there's actually any real similarities, though.

@Einherjar I take it you haven't played Skyward Sword? I was blown away by how much rupees were needed in that game and how rare they were. I found myself not only being excited to find rupees, but actually collecting green rupees when they fell on the ground!

It's going to be the same thing as Skyward Sword with having to replace your shields, except they'll take it a step further. It's actually a logical progression all the way from Link to the Past, which introduced the magic meter in the first place. In a way it's crazy that it took them so long to put in a stamina meter and weapon health.

@Einherjar That's a shame. I finally beat it the other day and it was a wonderful game. People always claim that Zelda games have gotten too easy, but I thought this provided plenty of a challenge...especially towards the end. That final boss fight was pretty epic.

"They have never sold an item that doesn't go away after each use like the boomerang or the hookshot."

-_-

Shovel and Bow in Link's Awakening. The Blue and Red Shields and a bottle in Link to the Past. The red and blue tunics in Ocarina of Time. The Bomb Bag and Big Bomb Bag in Majora's Mask. The Sail in Wind Waker. The BOOMERANG in Minish Cap. And many, many more.

This is hardly the first time Aonuma's gaffed on his own games. God I'm worried about this nonsensical sequel.

I just noticed that character resembles Nabbit. It might have been said before, but its not the first time shops sell an item that doesn't go away after each use (Link's Awakening shovel, among many others) he should replace that with "key quest items"

@FiveDigitLP I wouldn't say that Rupees were too scarce in SS. Granted, I am a miser and hoarded the majority of what I got, but I don't ever remember having a shortage of Rupees.

One thing I have to mention when discussing Rupees in SS, though, is wallet upgrades. I loved how they were easy and straightforward to obtain. It may have been the first Zelda game...ever... where I didn't have a full wallet at some point.

I do agree with you: it was an excellent game. Still, I didn't see the Game-Over screen in my initial play-through... though now I seem to die whenever I challenge the final boss again.

Did Thomas really type "So don't forget, if you see a pot or some grass, have at it."? I wonder if he lives in Colorado or Oregon, cause in the other 48 states, that ain't legal!Back to the matter at hand...I do like the idea of being able to buy "permanent" items, but dislike the whole Nabbit jackin' you for your stuff (I'll forgive if its non-permanent items)

This sounds like it could be a great step in the right direction of changing the traditional dungeon format of find key, get map/compass, fight miniboss, get special item that allows you into area that you were wondering about but couldn't access, get boss key, fight and defeat boss that happens to have a weakness that you can take advantage of with special item and leave.

Oh and btw, everybody is saying Link's Awakening had the bow and shovel, but Aonuma's first Zelda game he worked on was Ocarina of Time. Meanwhile I'm listening to some of Hiroyuki Sawano's music, the guy who's doing the soundtrack for X. He is incredible and my new favorite composer!

@Groosenator Well, rupees may have not been scarce, but I still feel like they appeared less often than in other games. Also, it seemed like things cost more and there were more things to spend it on (with upgrades and what not), so I was low on rupees fairly often.

I think I only saw a game over screen once or twice, but that's only because I'm really on top of making sure I have enough potions and fairies. In previous games (at least 3D ones), I could beat a lot of bosses with only using one fairy at max, but in SS I had to use several potions...especially on the final boss levels.

@sinalefa Haha. Yeah, I didn't know what was in store, but I thought to be safe that I'd acquire the Hylian shield before going to the last battle. Glad I did, though beating the eight bosses to get it was a challenge and quite nerve-racking. I must say I got really good and conserving my hearts and finding new ones, though.

@FiveDigitLP It was in no way a bad game and there were no flaws that turned me off like the graphical style ore the gameplay. It just didnt hook me. My attention span is already pretty slim, and if a game doesnt pull me in completely i get distracted pretty easily, which sadly happend with SW (Xenoblade is to blame for that). Im defenitly going back to finish it though. The same happened with WInd Waker and thats the next game on my agenda to finish with the HD rerelease And maybe then ill finish SW. What i probably wont finish are the two DS games, because i genuinly didnt liked those one bit. But i also wouldnt call them bad per se. I just didnt like them

@Einherjar I certainly understand! I just beat the game a couple weeks ago and I've had it since release day! I love Zelda games, but for some reason I did get quite distracted with other games (and just life in general) while playing this.

Also, I agree with you about the DS games! Well, that is PH. It was meh (for a Zelda game). I still haven't played Spirit Tracks yet, though. I'd say Minish Cap is the best handheld Zelda game!

That would be a nice change of pace if certain items have to be bought in stores that you can't find in dungeons, or you literally CAN'T proceed at certain points in the game... it would harken back to the first Zelda which did this to an extent. I'm all for "Find it on your own based on your exploring skills" Zelda. It would also hopefully allow for some never before seen dungeon items.

"They have never sold an item that doesn't go away after each use like the boomerang or the hookshot."

Sorry what? yes they have. In Minish Cap to get the boomerang you bought it in the shop. In Ocarina of Time you buy shields in shops. Those are the examples I can remember anyway, I'm sure there are more.

I do hope the currency system gets more attention though. I cant count how many times in a Zelda game I hit the max currency I could hold without having anything available to use the money on. It just makes opening a chest and getting 50 rupees disappearing away a major annoyance. ._.

@FiveDigitLP I still favor the GB(C) trilogy when it comes to handheld zelda games, but minish cap was a good game, a bit on the short side (my memory might play tricks on me here, i finished it ages ago) but a really good title.What i didnt like about the DS games were the presentation. Bland enviroments, that werent pretty as 3D models and would have been a lot more aesthetically pleasing if they were in 2D. Also, the character models looked awefull. Compare it to, say, the crytal chronicles games which looked pretty awesome if you ask me, from the character models to the enviroments. And then we have the dreaded sailing passages that felt even more missplaced because now the ship would follow your drawn routes. You even lost that last bit of interactivity. The whole game was way to slow, bland and boring for me to even bother to play it past 1 or 2 dungeons. But others liked it a lot, so who am i to call it a bad game ? Maybe my mind will change someday, but as of now, the wind waker series is definitly not my type of game and i hope that the HD rerelease can change this even for a little bit.

woah woah woah, is Link's tunic not green in that screenshot?The hat is, as well as the short sleeves, but the main body of the tunic is brown.I wonder if different colored tunics will play a role like they did in Ocarina of Time?One can hope! I loved the red and blue tunics.Also, i spy a hookshot, a bow, two different staffs of some sort, and a boomerang for sale.This screen is definitely full of surprises!

would be cool if it meant the game's not linear..... it would add a lot to replay beating the game in different orders.... but it would also be a hell for the team behind the game(imagine having to change the story slightly depending on the order the player decides to go!!!)

I have to agree with both of you. It was a fantastic game, but I also lost interest, if that makes any sense. I remember being amazed and having a "best Zelda game ever!" Feeling at certain points like when Fi wakes you up at night and you follow her. Pretty epic stuff.

But, somewhere around the desert, like Einherjar, the game started to feel like somewhat of a chore and I couldn't figure out why. I continued to the part where you need to find the Ghost ship and for some reason, never picked it up again.

In retrospect, I think the reason is that it was far too segmented of a game for me. I love exploring and happening upon things, but this effect was completely lost with the hub world-forest-hub world-mountain formula. You also returned to these places too much, which hurt that exploration feel.

Surprisingly, I also did not like the whole "puzzle overworld, overworld is like a dungeon" thing they did, which was actually something I was really excited for. I think that's why the game felt like a chore. While every Zelda overworld is setup in a way that makes you think to get around, having the entire overworld feel like a puzzle filled dungeon was incredibly monotonous.

Overall, Skyward Sword had it's parts that were typical, epic greatness found in Zelda, but as an overall package, something seemed to fall flat.

at first i looked at the picture and thought it was really stupid how you had to buy all of your items (what is this, animal crossing?) but then i realized that items could be stolen haha, that totally makes up for it! i love collecting rupees, this should be a welcome addition for me!

@LetsGoRetro I couldnt have said it better. I got overrun with side quests at some point. I love item crafting systems, however small they are and got really disappointed that you need so much stuff that simply doesnt show up until later to take advantage of the system. And then you have the overworld, if you could call it that. I loved the semi open world maps of previous zelda games. You couldnt reach certain spots because you lacked the proper tools to get there and it was thrilling to see what new areas you could reach just because you found that new, shiny gadget in the last dungeon. In SW, you could fly pretty much everywhere but couldnt do anything there. I got so confused while flying from island to island, always wondering if i already went there or not. It was a strange mixture of beeing overwhelmed on one part and beeing bored on another.

@Einherjar Althought the core gameplay was strong I also had a few problems with Phantom Hourglass; the story was too thin and added nothing to the series, there were only 2-3 memorable characters, and it seemed like there were only about 10 songs used in the entirity of the game. I did however love what they did with the bosses and really hope that a Link between worlds follows in that regard.I will say that Spirit Tracks was a big improvement on most aspects particularly the soundtrack so don't be afraid to give that a go!

@AJWolfTill I cant even remember any of the bosses, given, i didnt play it for a long time. And i never played ST, the whole train thing just felt too weird to me. But your right, someday, i should play them again and finish them. Maybe they even grow on me in the long run